HOW WAS THE BEGINNING OF YOUR CAREER?
The beginning of my career was a very favorable one. I started my activity in an economic company, where I lead the plastics, rubber and composite plastics production; it was a field with a little bit of new perspectives, quite considerable for that time, I mean in the sixties. It was a work environment where I could perform and where, from the professional point of view, I felt something that afterwards I never felt.
WHICH WERE THE FOLLOWING STAGES UP TO THE APPOINTMENT AS A MEMBER OF ROMANIAN NATIONAL SECURITIES COMMISSION?
The second stage of my career was represented by my specialization in an innovating field for the seventies, such as the field of organizational and informatics projects. Here, I had the opportunity to lead large projects, among which one of the greatest was the computerization of the natural gas distribution for 19 counties. It was a project in which I used all my knowledge and from which I learned a lot of things. Then, it followed a period in which I worked in the research field, data bases, within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, being the only province town member, part of a team of 10 specialists. After 1990, I tried to valuate myself as a public person and I set up a limited liability company (LLC), having as object of activity planning and informatics. One of the most successful and profitable projects developed within this LLC was the planning and the set up of the Romexterra bank, in 1993. As of this year, I re-oriented my activities towards the financial-banking field, and I had various positions within the Board of Directors of this bank, up to the beginning of 1998. As of 1998 up to the end of 2000, I was directly involved in the privatization process, in Romania, as the State Secretary of the Ministry of Privatization, and later on, as the Vice-president of the privatization authority.
HOW DID YOU COME TO WORK WITHIN THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL SECURITIES COMMISSION AND WHAT WOULD BE THE GREATEST SATISFACTION YOU HAD THERE?
As the re-organization process of the Romanian National Securities Commission performed in July 2001, I was empowered as member of this institution, in the capacity of commissary, by the two Chambers of the Romanian Parliament. The knowledge and the experience gathered within the production, organizational and informatics fields, as well as within the banking system proved to be solid information, which allowed me to fulfill the mandate and to be re-appointed in 2004, too. The introduction of securities on the capital market, starting with the municipal bonds and then the corporate bonds of some great companies, was the greatest satisfaction within this field of activity. The continuous diversification of this product of the capital market is ensured by the enactment of the mortgage bonds and secured financial instruments issuance. As a consequence, the economy financing and crediting is also ensured by the capital market.
THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL SECURITIES COMMISSION IS AN INSTITUTION WHICH TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES ARE VERY FEW KNOWN BY THE ROMANIAN PEOPLE. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT IN THE LIGHT OF YOUR EXPERIENCE?
The Romanian National Securities Commission, as an autonomous administrative authority has as main objectives: to set up and to maintain the frame appropriate for the development of the regulated markets, to promote the reliability on the regulated markets and financial instruments, to assure the protection of the financial players and the investors against unfair, abusive and false pretences, respectively to promote the correct and transparent functioning of the regulated markets.
The Romanian National Securities Commission managed: to develop the capital market, in Romania, to decrease the investment risks on this market, to expand the products and, last but not least, to have a conclusive contribution to the framing within the European Union market system. The settlement-authorization effort was quite huge, taking into consideration the complexity of the issues within the alignment process to the new requirements imposed by the European Directives.
Therewith, we must take into consideration that, in Romania, the financing of the national economy on the capital market represents only few hundred percents of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while in USA, for example, is with 1.3 higher than the GDP. The Romanian National Securities Commission sets up to increase the percent of the instruments related to the capital market in order to finance the economy, during the following years, so that to get nearer of the developed countries level.
LAST YEAR, THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL SECURITIES COMMISSION INITIATED A RELIEF POLITICS RELATED TO THE FEES AND TARIFFS REGIME OBTAINED AS A RESULT OF THE OPERATIONS PERFORMED ON THE REGULATED MARKETS. SHALL THIS POLITICS BE CONTINUED?
In Europe, the financing of the authorities similar to the Romanian National Securities Commission is performed from the budget of the country and/or auto-financing sources. The Romanian National Securities Commission auto finances itself hundred percent, by cashing in tariffs and fees, respectively quotas adherent to the transactions and public offers values, and for the collective investment companies there are quotas calculated to the net worth, as well as other revenues provided in the status.
The continuous decrease of these revenues, interpreted in relation with the increase of the financial effort regarding the cooperation with the specific institutions of the European Commission, would provoke serious malfunctions. In conclusion, from my point of view, I do not agree with the relief politics of the fees and tariffs regime, and I would rather adopt their adjustment according to the size, respectively the transaction volume of the operations performed on the market, depending on the situation.
LATELY, EVERYBODY SPEAK ABOUT AN AMENDMENT OF THE CAPITAL MARKET LAW. WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?
Basically, I agree upon the amendment of the 5% cap of the shares of a shareholder to a market player (Bucharest Stock Exchange and Sibiu Commodity and Stock Exchange). This cap is a serious obstacle for the framing within the merger and purchase processes in the stock field of the Romanian capital market. Notwithstanding, I consider that the moment of the Law 297/2004 amendment should be after this year Parliament elections.
DOU YOU THINK THE EXPECTED TRANSPARENCY LEVEL ON THE REGULATED MARKETS HAS BEEN REACHED?
After 2001, it was initiated a process of increasing the transparency level on these markets and partially, this was a success. This can also be proved by such phenomena, as National Investment Fund, can produce less and less. A fraud cannot be stopped, but the transparency ensures its disclosure, on time.
HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL SECURITIES COMMISSION AND BUCHAREST STOCK EXCHANGE?
The relations between them are good, and this is due to the fact that at Bucharest Stock Exchange there are persons who were prior part of the National Securities Association, and out of which the Romanian National Securities Commission developed. I hereof refer to Mr. Farmache and to other members who set up the basis of the authorization, regulation and control of the markets and created the appropriate conditions for their applicability. Thus, I must specify that the basic relation between the Romanian National Securities Commission and the Bucharest Stock Exchange is the one of regulating authority and its subject authority, meaning that the authority has the right and the obligation to supervise and control the activity of this stock player, as well as of the market managed by it.
THE WRITTEN MEDIA STIPULATES THE IDEA THAT THE SPIN OFF OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH ON THE COMMUNIST SECRET SERVICE ARCHIVE MIGHT BE A CASE LAW FOR THE SPINNING OFF OF OTHER INSTITUTIONS SUBJECT TO THE PARLIAMENT. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS STATEMENT?
It is an unprofessional statement, but the media’s freedom must be respected. As we just have joined the European Union, where there are strict directives regarding the market regulation and where preventive investment measures are adopted, we cannot speak about the dissolution of the supervising authority, the Romanian National Securities Commission. The comparison with the National Council for Research on the Communist Secret Service Archive is groundless. HAVE YOU EVER PUT THE PRAGMATISM ASIDE IN ORDER TO TAKE CHANCES AND GAMBLE IN A CASINO, FOR EXAMPLE?
I had the opportunity to see some of the most famous casinos in Las Vegas, as well as in Macao. I entered the casinos, but I never gambled. I consider that the gambling addiction is a characteristic of the human being, of Homo Ludens.
HOW DO YOU SEE THE MARKET OF THE GAMBLING, IN ROMANIA?
If this market brings benefits to the country, then it should be allowed to function and to develop! Unfortunately there are some who attributes a pejorative sense to the casino, but they accept the lottery games and the sports betting.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE “CASINO” MAGAZINE?
It is a magazine that I have recently discovered. I admit that it has a very good image, but I have to convince myself of the quality of its content by reading it.